German brain drain at highest level since 1940s
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Published: 01 June 2007

For a nation that invented the term “guest worker” for its immigrant labourers, Germany is facing the sobering fact that record numbers of its own often highly-qualified citizens are fleeing the country to work abroad in the biggest mass exodus for 60 years.

Figures released by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office showed that the number of Germans emigrating rose to 155,290 last year – the highest number since the country’s reunification in 1990 – which equalled levels last experienced in the 1940s during the chaotic aftermath of the Second World War.

The statistics, which also revealed that the number of immigrants had declined steadily since 2001, were a stark reminder of the extent of the German economy’s decline from the heady 1960s when thousands of mainly Turkish workers flocked to find work in the country.